Nor'east Mag W. CT 6/12-18/06

1. It’s hard to believe that the fishing season can get any better than it already is but amazingly that is the case. The striped bass keep coming in bigger and bigger. The blackfish season opened with a bang. Porgies are all in the 2.5-pound range. And the old reliable standby bluefish are just tearing rigs to shreds because for some reason the early migration of these fish are just huge. And yes, there are some fluke being taken too.
2. Along western Connecticut the news this week is about how big the bass are and what a historic run there has been of the monster fish. “Anybody who is looking for big fish right now they are there for the taking,” Jimmy Orefice of Jimmy O’s in Stratford said. “Now is the time to get out there because there are a lot of big bass all around. And they are eating up everything in sight. In the latest batch of bass we found that they are full of 3-inch fluke and whole squid.”
3. Well, that says it all. Now we know why these fish are like monsters and Jeff Cromwell confirmed it with his catch of a 29.9-pound striper that he took at Penfield Reef while
   fishing with a bunker head. Steve Monroe topped that with a 38-pound bass that was caught at the BH Buoy with a chunk of bunker, while Robin Monks fished the same location with the same bait for a 25-pound cow. Dan Johnson tried a change of pace and headed over to Sunken Island where he had non-stop action with bluefish while tossing poppers. Rich Cartwright also stayed away from the bass, landing his limit of fluk e
   to 3-pounds at Port Jefferson using a conventional fluke rig.
   
4. Chris Fulton of Stratford B&T in Stratford had a mixed bag of news starting with a 31 inch bass taken on a tube and worm while out trolling in the Housatonic River. Behind Charles Island where he limited out on fluke to 5.4 pounds and also caught a 3.2-pound sea bass while using a bucktail and squid. Short Beach where used bucktails and bunker storms for non-stop schoolie bass action.
5. At Some Things Fishy in West Haven, Mike D’Errico kept up the litany of tales about big bass and told of Phil Maddern taking a 23-pound, 39-inch striper while fishing with eels at the New Haven breakwall. Kenny Fantano was out with Mike Sirano trolling an umbrella
   rig around the 6-mile Reef where the duo battled with a 37-pound bass that they landed after a short fight.
   
6. And Ernie Holcomb opened the blackfish season in style by hammering them for his limit while fishing in Clinton Harbor with clams.
   
7. Mike Sheehy of Salty Dog B&T in West Haven told of the solid porgy production coming from the breakwall and that fluke are present between the wall and the harbor. He also said that there are plenty of blues all along the beaches and they are being taken with swimmers and poppers.
8. At Bobby J's in Milford Mike Malone fished the New Haven breakwall, where he caught 6.08-pound fluke that he took using a standard fluke rig. Ray Oliver continued the trend of big bass with a 25.36-pound striper that he caught at the 6-mile reef while using a 3-way rig baited with eel. He also caught nine other keeper bass. Bob Barnes caught a nice 4.45-pound sea bass at the New Haven breakwall with a fluke rig, and Linda Baldwin was surprised with a 5.43 weakfish at Buoy 12, where she was fishing for fluke with a standard rig.
9. At Ted's B&T in Bridgeport, Kevin Karchman told of James Chunky Max aiford's catch of a 7.45-pound bluefish that was taken on a mackerel chunk at Seaside Park, while Sam, Newman had all that he could handle plugging schoolie bass and blues at Penfield Reef.
10. Nick Massaro of Fisherman's World in Norwalk had news of Lonnie Preter catching an 18-pound bass on a bunker chunk at Cockonoe Island, while Mike Blackwell caught his first striper ever, a 35.8-pound fish that was taken in Stamford waters with a bunker chunk.
11. The brother team of Rob and Peter Mouerman chunked bunker in Bridgeport where they caught four bass
12. NorEast's own Dixon Downey chunked bunker at Greens Ledge and some of the humps with one run off. He then hit Norwalk for a 30-inch bass and a 29-inch keeper. These fish were just babies compared to the 40-inch, 23-pound bass that he picked up shortly thereafter. Rob Zahenski also fished Greens Ledge in the early morning hours chunked up over 10 bass, with four of them c oming in at over 20 pounds and four more slightly smaller. Zahensky also fished Greenwich Harbor for non-stop bluefish action with five bass to 25 pounds beating the choppers to the bait.
13. At Fish Tales in Stamford, a catch of a 39-inch, 35-pound bass that was taken after a 20-minute fight at Captains Island. Phil Caruso had no such problems, catching 20 bass to 31 pounds, while Joe Siedler took a 24-pound striper behind Captains Island with a bunker chunk. Egino Campos headed over to Gulf Beach where he caught a 26-pound striper. Doug Lee was out for two hours anchored up in 25 feet of water at the Cows where he picked up a 6-pound bluefish and a 26-inch striped bass. Charlie Dembofsky found small bunker pods off Shippan Point and after snagging a few he set up in 50 feet of water, landing one keeper bass and a small bluefish.
14. Pete Miller of Pete's Place in Stamford was all about the bass telling of Randy Sala catching six stripers to 32 inches with a 10-inch Fin-S fish in Greenwich, while Gary Feighery did the same with his fish measuring 22 to 24 inches, and Angelo Mazzolla netting a 38 and 36-inch bass while fishing at the Cows with bunker. Miller took a 36-inch bass on a
    bunker head in Norwalk, while Juan Moncsar fished from shore at Shippan Point where he caught a 42-inch bass on mackerel. Alex Mazzolla had a 35-inch bass that he caught in Hempstead with bunker and Guy Esposito continued to do well at IBM where he caught a 19-pound bass and 12 blues while fishing with mackerel. Mike Black had his charter out and yielded four bass, with the biggest fish weighing 36 pounds. He also caught 11 bluefish and three fluke, making the rounds from the Cows to mid sound. And Sal Gardella enjoyed a mixed bag of bluefish and schoolie bass while fishing with bunker at the Cows.
15. At Sportsman's Den in Greenwich, the word was that Gene Scallon caught a5-pound fluke and a 36-inch dogfish at Todds Point, while Chris McDonald, David Fix and his daughter, Abby Fox, used poppers to entice a bevy of bluefish into the boat at Hempstead.
    
16. Nor'east Magazine, Rob Calour]